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Sunday 11 August 2013
Sunday 4 August 2013
Iversen's Italian Job
Niels-Kristian Iversen has continued his fantastic year in Grand Prix Speedway by winning his first ever meeting, in Terenzano, Italy. Britain's Tai Woffinden finished second with Emil Sayfutdinov third, meaning the championship race has been cut down to five point with four meetings remaining. The surprise performer of the night, Matej Zagar, finished fourth which increases his chances of a top eight finish.
The first two were reversed in the semi-finals as Woffinden beat Iversen in the first one, making it four consecutive wins for Woffinden. Nicki Pedersen was the man to miss out, finishing third, with Leon Madsen's first GP of the season ending in a semi-final exit. Zagar won the second semi-final with Sayfutdinov, who scraped through the heats, managed to overtake Jaroslaw Hampel on the penultimate lap to also creep in to the final. The last GP winner, Darcy Ward, again made it in to the semi-finals but couldn't beat any of his opponents.
It was the most open GP of the season with 12 of the 17 riders picking up a race win. The first heat of the night was restarted due to wildcard, Nicolas Covatti, moving at the start but all four returned to see Zagar pick up the three points. Sayfutdinov could only finish fourth in the opening with Pedersen second. There were wins for Iversen, Ward and Hampel in the first four heats. Gollob was disappointing with a fourth place, behind Hancock's second in heat two. Madsen, who is replaced the injured Andreas Jonsson, began with a third in heat three. Woffinden managed a second place in his first heat in the fourth.
Krzysztof Kasprzak won heat five with Pedersen and Sayfutidnov also picking up their first heat wins of the night. But Zagar had the best start of the night, winning heat eight to make it two wins in two. Woffinden made it two second places in heat six with Iversen going from first to fourth in heat eight. Ward managed to gain second after his win in a tough eighth heat.
There was drama in heat ten when it was initially restarted even though the start did look fine. Pedersen was the one who missed out after having a great start to begin with. It looked disastrous as Pedersen ended up being fourth in the restart with Greg Hancock winning it. But the heat wasn't over and the riders were called back from their garages as replays showed that the tapes hadn't gone up equally and the referee decided to restart the heat once more. Typically, Hancock ended up finishing fourth with Pedersen winning his second heat of the night, in the end.
The drama continued in to heat-11 as Iversen would lose control of his bike and crash in to Sayfutdinov. Fortunately, both were okay and Iversen was rightly excluded from the restart. It turned out to be a win for Woffinden over Sayfutdinov, a pattern of the meeting. There were two surprise wins in the third section of the night as Ales Dryml would win heat nine and Madsen heat-12, with Gollob scoring a second fourth place in that same heat.
Heat-13 would suffer a huge delay after the wildcard, Covatti, crashed out in the first corner and looked to land horribly on his chin. Treatment took a while before he left in an ambulance with only a wrist injury thankfully. The restart was won by Woffinden after Ward had gone down on the third lap but managed to continue. Iversen and Hampel would also win their second heats of the night with Hancock finally picking up his first victory in heat-15.
Substitute Nicolas Vicentin rode instead of Covatti in heat-16 but would end up breaking a chain and not completing the heat that was won by Hampel for his third victory of the night. Gollob completed his miserable night with a victory in heat-18 before Ward won his second heat of the in the 19th with Sayfutdinov only managing third. Woffinden took full advantage by winning heat number three in the final heat, but Hancock's fourth place meant Sayfutdinov just about qualified for the semi-finals. Championship standings after eight rounds:
1. Emil Sayfutdinov (Rus) 107
2. Tai Woffinden (Gbr) 102
3. Jaroslaw Hampel (Pol) 85
4. Nicki Pedersen (Den) 83
5. Chris Holder (Aus) 82 (Injured for rest of season)
6. Niels-Kristian Iversen (Den) 77
7. Matej Zagar (Slv) 75
8. Greg Hancock (Usa) 71
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9. Tomasz Gollob (Pol) 68
10. Freddie Lindgren (Swe) 61
11. Krzysztof Kasprzak (Pol) 59
12. Darcy Ward (Aus) 55
13. Martin Vaculik (Svk) 44
15. Andreas Jonsson (Swe) 39
16. Antonio Lindback (Swe) 34
The first two were reversed in the semi-finals as Woffinden beat Iversen in the first one, making it four consecutive wins for Woffinden. Nicki Pedersen was the man to miss out, finishing third, with Leon Madsen's first GP of the season ending in a semi-final exit. Zagar won the second semi-final with Sayfutdinov, who scraped through the heats, managed to overtake Jaroslaw Hampel on the penultimate lap to also creep in to the final. The last GP winner, Darcy Ward, again made it in to the semi-finals but couldn't beat any of his opponents.
It was the most open GP of the season with 12 of the 17 riders picking up a race win. The first heat of the night was restarted due to wildcard, Nicolas Covatti, moving at the start but all four returned to see Zagar pick up the three points. Sayfutdinov could only finish fourth in the opening with Pedersen second. There were wins for Iversen, Ward and Hampel in the first four heats. Gollob was disappointing with a fourth place, behind Hancock's second in heat two. Madsen, who is replaced the injured Andreas Jonsson, began with a third in heat three. Woffinden managed a second place in his first heat in the fourth.
Krzysztof Kasprzak won heat five with Pedersen and Sayfutidnov also picking up their first heat wins of the night. But Zagar had the best start of the night, winning heat eight to make it two wins in two. Woffinden made it two second places in heat six with Iversen going from first to fourth in heat eight. Ward managed to gain second after his win in a tough eighth heat.
There was drama in heat ten when it was initially restarted even though the start did look fine. Pedersen was the one who missed out after having a great start to begin with. It looked disastrous as Pedersen ended up being fourth in the restart with Greg Hancock winning it. But the heat wasn't over and the riders were called back from their garages as replays showed that the tapes hadn't gone up equally and the referee decided to restart the heat once more. Typically, Hancock ended up finishing fourth with Pedersen winning his second heat of the night, in the end.
The drama continued in to heat-11 as Iversen would lose control of his bike and crash in to Sayfutdinov. Fortunately, both were okay and Iversen was rightly excluded from the restart. It turned out to be a win for Woffinden over Sayfutdinov, a pattern of the meeting. There were two surprise wins in the third section of the night as Ales Dryml would win heat nine and Madsen heat-12, with Gollob scoring a second fourth place in that same heat.
Heat-13 would suffer a huge delay after the wildcard, Covatti, crashed out in the first corner and looked to land horribly on his chin. Treatment took a while before he left in an ambulance with only a wrist injury thankfully. The restart was won by Woffinden after Ward had gone down on the third lap but managed to continue. Iversen and Hampel would also win their second heats of the night with Hancock finally picking up his first victory in heat-15.
Substitute Nicolas Vicentin rode instead of Covatti in heat-16 but would end up breaking a chain and not completing the heat that was won by Hampel for his third victory of the night. Gollob completed his miserable night with a victory in heat-18 before Ward won his second heat of the in the 19th with Sayfutdinov only managing third. Woffinden took full advantage by winning heat number three in the final heat, but Hancock's fourth place meant Sayfutdinov just about qualified for the semi-finals. Championship standings after eight rounds:
1. Emil Sayfutdinov (Rus) 107
2. Tai Woffinden (Gbr) 102
3. Jaroslaw Hampel (Pol) 85
4. Nicki Pedersen (Den) 83
5. Chris Holder (Aus) 82 (Injured for rest of season)
6. Niels-Kristian Iversen (Den) 77
7. Matej Zagar (Slv) 75
8. Greg Hancock (Usa) 71
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9. Tomasz Gollob (Pol) 68
10. Freddie Lindgren (Swe) 61
11. Krzysztof Kasprzak (Pol) 59
12. Darcy Ward (Aus) 55
13. Martin Vaculik (Svk) 44
15. Andreas Jonsson (Swe) 39
16. Antonio Lindback (Swe) 34
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